New MCT500 Transport

[JWJW]

Originally Posted by j3brow

I’m glad I own the MCT450 .... I never have liked the look of a USB port on the front glass. Personally, I would never use it. I do wish the transports came with knobs

+1. ^^^^^^^^^^

[SAPHANA]

An USB port? Who buys a $5K CD transport to play files on external physical storage?

The only thing I don’t like about my MVP is the ugly USB port on the front panel. Never used it, never.

[FreddieFerric]

Seems this unit is made for an extremely vertical market. Per the McIntosh website:

"For SACD playback, the MCT500’s proprietary MCT output needs to be connected (via the included cable) to a McIntosh product with an MCT input. This includes the D1100, C52​, C2600​, C47​ and D150​ preamplifiers, MA9000, MA8900, MA7200 or MA5300 integrated amplifiers or MAC7200​ receiver."

I get it that the MCT connection is sort of like a proprietary toslink connection, but what's up with the singe XLR output? How does that output 2 channel? Sorry if it's a dumb question, but what am I missing here?

[SAPHANA]

Originally Posted by FreddieFerric

Seems this unit is made for an extremely vertical market. Per the McIntosh website:

"For SACD playback, the MCT500’s proprietary MCT output needs to be connected (via the included cable) to a McIntosh product with an MCT input. This includes the D1100, C52​, C2600​, C47​ and D150​ preamplifiers, MA9000, MA8900, MA7200 or MA5300 integrated amplifiers or MAC7200​ receiver."

I get it that the MCT connection is sort of like a proprietary toslink connection, but what's up with the singe XLR output? How does that output 2 channel? Sorry if it's a dumb question, but what am I missing here?

That's not an analog output. It's AES/EBU, for digital. Some people claim it has better sound quality, even though it's not very popular in most audio gears.

[SAPHANA]

This is the first time I see from McIntosh's official message about the list of products which support MCT input, and unfortunately MCD1100 is NOT in the list

Did McIntoshi mention anything about their position on MCD1100 & MCT in the past? My MCD1100 is still doing great when playing silver discs, but I want to have a fallback plan just in case its transport stops working...
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Edit
Just checked the back panel of my MCD1100 again, then realized its "DIN" is only for output.... which means if its transport breaks, I will only be able to use it as a DAC without MCT support.

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by SAPHANA

That's not an analog output. It's AES/EBU, for digital. Some people claim it has better sound quality, even though it's not very popular in most audio gears.

I have no experience with that format which is why I missed it.

[substance]

Aes/ebu xlr Digital output on Mcintosh gear is parallel to its coax output. In other words, it’s just internally converted to xlr but not a native xlr output. On a digital output it wouldn’t matter anyway. The only benefit is common mode noise reduction on very long runs.

Mct output is a different animal since the master clock info is also carried therefore no jitter.

[modlin]

Originally Posted by substance

Aes/ebu xlr Digital output on Mcintosh gear is parallel to its coax output. In other words, it’s just internally converted to xlr but not a native xlr output. On a digital output it wouldn’t matter anyway. The only benefit is common mode noise reduction on very long runs.

Mct output is a different animal since the master clock info is also carried therefore no jitter.

[Lockheed Martin]

Originally Posted by substance

Aes/ebu xlr Digital output on Mcintosh gear is parallel to its coax output. In other words, it’s just internally converted to xlr but not a native xlr output. On a digital output it wouldn’t matter anyway. The only benefit is common mode noise reduction on very long runs.



Mct output is a different animal since the master clock info is also carried therefore no jitter.

Very nice information, thank you. Does the MCT port handle hi-res music too? Or it just use for CD/SACD?

Thanks.

[Stranger]

I expect a new version that is as raw as the mcd500 of mcintosh